More evidence that depression is mostly crock

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: luv2chill

Originally posted by: iloveme2
I have serious depression and there is no medicine that really does much. All it shows is the current medicine we have is not effective.

What other alternatives have you tried? Have you tried psychotherapy, either alone or in concert with a medication? Sorry if that's too personal--feel free to not answer. But I am honestly curious if most depressed people feel that their only hope is in a pill.

l2c

The only thing I have found that helps is just getting out of the house and being with friends.

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Study shows sugar pill often works just as well as actual medicine.

So if you're sad, suck it up.

And note, I said *mostly*.

^^

You are clueless...

 

[Rogue]

Many people would benefit greatly from exercise. I don't think I ever recall a person who is moderately to very physically fit ever appearing to be or suspected to be suffering from depression. Depression is treatable, but not necessarily with pills all the time.

 

[StormRider]

That's why I'm so fat right now -- because I've been subconsciously battling my depression. So, before you guys make fun of the fat guy eating the Super Sized meal from McDonalds -- remember he's probably sad.

 

[lastig21]

I have also noticed on the Anti-depressant commercials (which are showing more and more), they say that if you haven't been yourself for "2 weeks" you should get on their medication. I don't remember what the DSM required for a person to be depressed (looked it up in an abnormal class), but I know it was longer than 2 weeks. If 2 weeks is the new standard, I don't think those people have any idea what real depression is, and a placebo could easily work for them.

 

[PHiuR]

luv2chill - great post... truly agree, couldnt have put it better myself...


and... btw i luv 2 chill also

 

[wyvrn]

Mass marketing anti-depressant drugs does not illegitimize the many clinically depressed people. I was clinically depressed for many years and just learned to live with it. It wasn't because I decided one day I just wanted to be a sad person. I hated being depressed. I would have given anything to get out of it, but it was out of my control. There is a history of depression and bi-polarism in my family which my doctor's believed made me more prone. There is lot's of statistical evidence that supports this. And my family is not filled with overweight people (to the person who mentioned physical fitness). In fact, I weighed 125 when I had clinical depression and weigh 180 lbs now. The depression makes it hard to sustain heavy physical activity. Now that I am not depressed, I can actually have lots of activity and lose weight (I have lost 25 lbs so far). Thankfully I am out of it and enjoying my life.

 

[Skel]

After battling severe depression for over a year, attempting to "suck it up", I went on one of these anti-depressants. I can tell you that after about a month or so, my thinking was able to become more clear then it had been in a while, and I was able to get out of the hell I was in.

I'm not a believer that anti-depressants are a magic pill, I do believe that they can be a powerful tool to help. I believe that they should be combined with some sort of therapy, otherwise you're just treating the symptom.

And if you don't believe in depression, well, trying to explain it to you would be like explaining advance chemistry to a two year old, chances are you still wouldn't understand.

Skel

 

[bubbasmith99]

folks, i have been on prozac for the last six weeks and have never felt better in my entire life. it snapped me out of a SEVERE, SEVERE, SEVERE (couldnt eat, sleep, think straight) depression that lasted two months and over the last few days I've felt more lucid, more alert and more hopeful and optimistic than I have since my childhood or probably even before.

btw, i have been doing drugs in combination with therapy. JUST got back from the therapist, in fact.

 

[luv2chill]

Originally posted by: iloveme2

Originally posted by: luv2chill

Originally posted by: iloveme2
I have serious depression and there is no medicine that really does much. All it shows is the current medicine we have is not effective.

What other alternatives have you tried? Have you tried psychotherapy, either alone or in concert with a medication? Sorry if that's too personal--feel free to not answer. But I am honestly curious if most depressed people feel that their only hope is in a pill.

l2c

The only thing I have found that helps is just getting out of the house and being with friends.

So much truth in that statement. The sad thing about the internet is that even though it is connecting us all together, it has a tendency of replacing genuine interpersonal contact and communication. Having people around who honestly care about you is so important to one's well-being. We live in "communities" but that word doesn't really mean now what it used to mean. Most of us don't really know our neighbors. People don't communicate--there's not enough time, not enough trust, not enough inclination. But what we all don't realize is that everyone else longs to connect with other people--it's just that no one wants to stick their neck out.

I consider myself a very complete and independent person. I'm not looking for anyone to "complete" me (sorry to use that lame Jerry Maguire line). But even still I place so much value on my relationships with family and friends. Even though I feel like I am on a different plane of existance much of the time, I still truly appreciate having people in my life who love me and demonstrate their love (I am not speaking of sexual or romantic love BTW ) regardless of how much or little we may have in common.

If I may, I'd like to suggest a book that I found absolutely illuminating. I am not one for touchy-feely, avoidance-of-responsibility, self-help tripe, and this book is not one of them. It's not Dr. Laura "tough love" crap either--it strikes a fine balance of telling things how they are and at the same time making you realize that change is possible. It's called The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck. He's written other books that expound on that one but the first one is the best. It was written over 20 years ago but still has just as much relevance today.

l2c

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: lastig21
I have also noticed on the Anti-depressant commercials (which are showing more and more), they say that if you haven't been yourself for "2 weeks" you should get on their medication. I don't remember what the DSM required for a person to be depressed (looked it up in an abnormal class), but I know it was longer than 2 weeks. If 2 weeks is the new standard, I don't think those people have any idea what real depression is, and a placebo could easily work for them.

I agree with you. 2 weeks is not enough to say someone is depressed. I think it's just drug companies trying to make more money by widening the definition of depression. I think I've been "depressed" since my senior year in high school -- and I'm 40 years old now.

 

[Syringer]

Okay, to anyone that can't read.. I never said depression doesn't exist, but that *mostly*, I even said that in my post, it is all a fallacy. Is that clear?

 

[OS]

Maybe one of these days there'll be a study showing that sugar pills have moderate beneficial effects for every ailment known to man.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: OS
Maybe one of these days there'll be a study showing that sugar pills have moderate beneficial effects for every ailment known to man.

But what will they use as a placebo?

 

[PistachioByAzul]

Depression is a crock...well that is right and it is wrong. It's right in a sense people are entirely out of tune with the root cause of depression; the soul-killing American (western cultural in general, but America is at the forefront) lifestyle of fierce competition, rabid consumption and mind numbing entertainment. It's wrong because, people really are depressed, in response to their toxic enviroment, toxic lifestyle, and subsequently poisoned mind.

So the truth is, to be depressed is to be terribly luckily. It means there's still a part of your spirit that's healthy and trying to bring the higher energies (love) into your mindframe. It means you have an opportunity to grow.

Now, here's my rant:

PSYCHOSOMATIC DRUGS (anti-depressants, etc.) ARE HORRIBLY EVIL IN THEIR EFFECT ON YOUR MIND AND BODY

Great way to kill off the last of your sanity and make you mindlessly complacent. Bad feelings, pain, have to be faced full on. To run away, to trick your brain with chemicals to think theres nothing wrong, is to deny your humanity.

"Nature is the source of sanity itself"

So why do people start threads on fairly anonymous internet message boards, for the purpose of kicking others when they're down with words like "So if you're sad, suck it up."? Where does this bitterness come from?

I think the answer to that question could also be the answer as to why people are depressed to begin with.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Study shows sugar pill often works just as well as actual medicine.

So if you're sad, suck it up.

And note, I said *mostly*.

That doesn't mean depression is crock... it means the placebo effect is just as powerful as medications.

 

[Mrburns2007]

Could just be that the people taking the sugar pills got a little more sleep the time they were taking the sugar pills and felt a little better, or maybe they ate better during the time that they took them.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: OS
Maybe one of these days there'll be a study showing that sugar pills have moderate beneficial effects for every ailment known to man.

But what will they use as a placebo?

doctor patting you on the butt and sending you on your merry way. :Q

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: Syringer
Study shows sugar pill often works just as well as actual medicine.

So if you're sad, suck it up.

And note, I said *mostly*.

That doesn't mean depression is crock... it means the placebo effect is just as powerful as medications.

Read my post again..

 

[stormbv]

Oh, thank you for telling me depression is a crock...I'll try not to be a little bitch anymore.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: idNut
Sadness is truly the only ardor I feel and want to feel. It's not self-pity but instead another insight of the world. Why view life only through the good?

Who says everyone wants to be happy? I sure don't.

Are you some sort of emotional masochist?

 

[Miramonti]

the conclusion only suggests its oversubscribed, and those are the people 'benefiting' from the sugar pills and not those with the real depression.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: stormbv
Oh, thank you for telling me depression is a crock...I'll try not to be a little bitch anymore.

My God does ANYONE know how to read around here?

 

[dolph]

Originally posted by: EngineNr9
Depression is a crock...well that is right and it is wrong. It's right in a sense people are entirely out of tune with the root cause of depression; the soul-killing American (western cultural in general, but America is at the forefront) lifestyle of fierce competition, rabid consumption and mind numbing entertainment. It's wrong because, people really are depressed, in response to their toxic enviroment, toxic lifestyle, and subsequently poisoned mind.

So the truth is, to be depressed is to be terribly luckily. It means there's still a part of your spirit that's healthy and trying to bring the higher energies (love) into your mindframe. It means you have an opportunity to grow.

Now, here's my rant:

PSYCHOSOMATIC DRUGS (anti-depressants, etc.) ARE HORRIBLY EVIL IN THEIR EFFECT ON YOUR MIND AND BODY

Great way to kill off the last of your sanity and make you mindlessly complacent. Bad feelings, pain, have to be faced full on. To run away, to trick your brain with chemicals to think theres nothing wrong, is to deny your humanity.

"Nature is the source of sanity itself"

So why do people start threads on fairly anonymous internet message boards, for the purpose of kicking others when they're down with words like "So if you're sad, suck it up."? Where does this bitterness come from?

I think the answer to that question could also be the answer as to why people are depressed to begin with.

i agree with everything you said to some degree. brilliant 5000th post.

 

[Blackened]

Jesus christ - depression is real and does exist. It is due to the body not producing or over producing seratonin.